A World of French Braided HairStyles at Your Fingertips!

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I like to mix things up with hairdos for my girls. I don’t really know a lot of different techniques- I just use the same ones in different ways. So, today I thought I’d share one skill with you that, if learned, will open up a whole world of awesome hairdos! I’m going to show you how to do a french braid just like the one in the photo below.

Once you’ve mastered that, there are all kind of things you can do! I’ll show you some ideas after I show you a video. I’ll also share some tips for when you’re first learning to french braid, as well as a couple of cute hair styles that don’t require a french braid 🙂

I love this style because it keeps her hair out of her face!

Ready to learn?
Here’s a little video tutorial for you!

Once you’ve done this enough, your fingers will get used to it and it won’t feel as weird to you as it may the first few times you try it. I used to get pretty frustrated when I first started French braiding Talia’s hair (my 6 year old). I’ve found that skinnier braids (like the one in the video) are a lot easier than doing one big one with all of her hair (especially when their hair isn’t very long).

We’ve gone from very long (down to her bum) hair, to just above the shoulder hair in short periods of time. (Talia cut her own hair when she was 4, and we ended up donating the hair that she didn’t cut. Then we did it all over again last year- minus finding her hiding under a table with scissors this time!).

I also find “skinnier” braids to work well on Katrina’s hair (my 3 year old). Her hair is very fine and will not stay in a pony tail or full french braid for long- all the little wisps fall out. I recently tried 3 french braids (shown in the photo below) and that stayed in really well!

In the photo below you can see a double version of the braid I showed you in the video. You can kinda tell it’s one of my earlier attempts because I was probably more concerned with actually getting the braid to work than with getting the part between the braids to be straight 😉 But hey, it works!

Below is a picture of what I could do with Katrina’s hair when it was shorter and just wouldn’t stay in a French braid, even if I did two smaller ones. I used small elastics (you can find them at the dollar store- they’re a staple in our home!) to make small pony tails- start with one small one, and add it to some more hair (kinda like a French braid) before making the second, and so on. Then when you get all the hair together, you can braid it. This keeps most of the wispy pieces in place.

In the next photo you can see kind of a “cheater’s” way of starting a French braid. If you find it frustrating to get the braid started, you can use those tiny elastics to put your 3 starting pieces into ponytails, and braid from there. That way they can’t slip out of your fingers while you try to get the rest of the braid going!

And if you’re just not ready for braiding, there are a lot of fun things you can do with just pony tails. Here’s an example that was fun to do (and pretty easy).

You can do all kinds of things and get pretty creative mixing braids with ponytails, or just ponytails like this:

If you’re ready for braids, things can get really fun. Here’s a triple braid like the one I showed in the video (but I stopped the braids at one end of her forehead). I really like this one:

Here’s another triple, but the braids go toward the back of the head. You could finish them as braids hanging down or as ponytails like the photo above.

And here’s another triple (or maybe it was quadruple- I can’t remember), that uses all of her hair:

And my most recent favourite is this braid that went right around Talia’s head in a circle. This photo is of my first try. I think I have some ideas of how to make it better (next time she feels patient enough to sit still for a while). I started at the front, to the side (like the video braid), but right over, above her ear, and continued braiding (like the video braid), but kept going behind her other ear, around the bottom of her head, in a spiral. When I had incorporated all of her hair into the braid, I finished the tail like a regular braid, then wrapped it around her head to complete the spiral, and bobby pinned it into place.

I hope these photos have given you some inspiration to get creative and play with your girls’ hair!

(Don’t have girls? Invite some friends over for a girls’ night and play with their hair! 😉 )

Have you tried any cool braids lately? Do you have photos? I’d love for you to link to them in the comments so I can check them out!!

Hope you’re having a great summer! Come see me sometime over at Raising Memories Blog!
I’d love to see you there 🙂

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means, we may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase something from a link we post. Don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything. This small percentage just helps us keep the power on and the Diet Coke stocked. We appreciate your support!

About Heather

Heather is a Canadian mother of 2 girls. She has a Liberal Arts degree and loves photography. She is always looking for ways to make fun memories with her girls and share them them online through HowDoesShe and her blog, Raising Memories.

How cute Heather! I am ALWAYS looking for ideas.
I just saw one the other night on a little girl and had to stop her mom and ask how she did it. It was just three braids started at the bottom of her neck (no french braids required) and then she braided the three braids together. It does take some longer hair, but the resulting braid looks so awesome…I’ll have to do it again and take a picture.
Thanks for the great braid ideas!

That does sound cool! I’ll have to remember it for when Talia’s hair gets longer (It’s been past her waist twice, now we’re just waiting for it to get there again 😉 It is kind of nice to enjoy the “less tangley” inbetween stages, though!

Good question!
My 6 year old will sometimes entertain the 3 year old for me- I actually had her doing a puppet show for her once! haha
And yes, a movie on the TV is a great distraction b/c they don’t have any need to move (usually) 😉

I’m so excited about this. I have always wanted to french braid my little girls hair, but had no idea how. The video was great! Tried it on my 2 1/2 year old. I still need lots of practice,and a video of how to get a 2 year old to sit still;) Thanks for posting!

I love French braids on little girls and adults too! I braid a little differently by having the braid on top of the hair. This is done by coming underneath as you add to the braid. It gives it a totally new look. The way that I learned about 25 years ago was by having a friend braid it for me then she used hairspray on it to hold it in place. Several times during the day I would carefully take the braid loose and make the braid again. After doing this several times during the day my fingers got used to the actions needed. Like you I experimented with braids. My personal favorite was to start the braid on one side of the head just above the ear and then braid around the head to the other side of the head. Then I would finish the braiding and wrap it across the top. It had a very elegant look. If I made two braids – one on each side, then I joined it together in the back into one braid. Good luck braiding!

Okay, I want you to braid *my* hair like the last pic! I have only the boy, alas. I’m forever itching to braid up all the hair in our homeschool co-op! 😉 I’ll just take in these pics and they’ll line up, I know it!
Thanks for sharing!

Mom of 4 girls, but *not* a hair styler. My girls were lucky if Mom remembered to *brush* their hair before leaving the house. My oldest however, LOVES this sort of thing, so will have to share with her. She’s pretty creative herself and has found books at the library to give her more ideas.
Unfortunately 3 of us recently cut our locks to donate, so the only long hair left is her own (it wasn’t long enough yet for her to donate) and the youngest’s (which is very thin & not too long and with zero bangs (she cut them herself recently!)).

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